Health at a Glance: Europe 2020
State of Health in the EU Cycle
The 2020 edition of Health at a Glance: Europe focuses on the impact of the COVID‑19 crisis. Chapter 1 provides an initial assessment of the resilience of European health systems to the COVID-19 pandemic and their ability to contain and respond to the worst pandemic in the past century. Chapter 2 reviews the huge health and welfare burden of air pollution as another major public health issue in European countries, and highlights the need for sustained efforts to reduce air pollution to mitigate its impact on health and mortality. The five other chapters provide an overview of key indicators of health and health systems across the 27 EU member states, 5 EU candidate countries, 3 European Free Trade Association countries and the United Kingdom. Health at a Glance: Europe is the first step in the State of Health in the EU cycle.
Infant health
Poor living conditions and other socio-economic factors affect the health of mothers and newborns, but the quality of health care can greatly reduce the number of infant deaths, particularly by addressing life-threatening issues during the neonatal period (i.e. the first month of life). The main causes of death during the first month are congenital anomalies, prematurity and other conditions arising during pregnancy. For deaths beyond the first month (post neonatal mortality), there tends to be a greater range of causes, with the most common being sudden unexpected death in infancy (Euro-Peristat, 2018).